Controlling Personal Use
The 5.0.2 upgrade, presented in an animation with its own fast-paced soundtrack on the company's web site, will allow users to access some personal calendar, e-mail and voice-mail features on phones that are locked for company use via the Individual Liable Devices Policy, but still block social-media access.
It will also allow IT managers to change passwords, lock a device, or surgically remove company data like e-mails and business programs from an employee's (or ex-employee's) phone without erasing personal contacts, all via self-service options.
Users can configure Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions encryption so they are no longer required to turn it on when using the Enterprise Server. Both users and administrators can use a single sign-on to access the BlackBerry Web Desktop Manager and Administration Services.
While the server update is available immediately, some features will not work without the BlackBerry 6 platform to be available later this year,
Canada-based RIM's BlackBerry still dominates the U.S. smartphone market with a 35 percent share, and is particularly popular among business users. Touchscreens are expected on the next generation of devices to stay even more competitive. The 5.0.2 server features, with their focus on security and attention to the increasingly blurred lines between business and personal use, are aimed at helping RIM maintain market share even as Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series, and Apple's iPhones add more business features.
"No doubt RIM offers the best-of-breed security for enterprises," said Michael Gartenberg of the Altimeter Group. "But in a world increasingly driven by end-user by end-user device choices, will many CIOs allow good-enough solutions to meet the needs of end users, especially when many of the end users sit in the executive suite?"
New Environments
RIM also announced new supported environments for BES 5.0.2. The system is designed to work with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 as well as Windows Server 2008 R2, and server components can be accessed by all major browsers -- Internet Explorer 7 and 8, Mozilla Firefox 3.6, Safari 4, and Google Chrome 4.0. "These continue to keep BlackBerry Enterprise Server compatible with leading business, network and communications systems in the market today," RIM said.
The server is also available in a new language, Brazilian Portuguese, in addition to English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese.
The new system also allows IT managers more control over access from their devices to internal and external web sites, setting tougher, two-factor authentication for business systems and lesser or no security for publicly accessible URLs.
